Dredging and conveying apparatus.



No. 825,545, PA'TBNTBD JULY 10, 1906. s. L. G. KNOX an w. PBRRIS.

DRBDGING AND CONVEYING APPARATUS.

APPLwATmu FILED AUG.ax.19o5.

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No! 325,545. i PATENTE JULY 1o, 190s.

s. L, G. KNGX w. FERRIS.

DREDGING AND GGNVEYING APPARATUS.

Humanas rum we. a1. 190s.

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' l PA'IBNTED JULY 10, 1906. S. L, G,V KNX & W. PERRIS.

DREDGING AND GONVEYING APPARATUS.

APPLIOTIDN FILED Atmel. was.

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S. L. G* KNX 65 W- FERBIS. DREDGNG AND CONVEYING PPRTUS.

Prnlourou FILED 116.111, 1905.

No. 825,545. A PATENTBD JULY 10, 1906. S. L. G. KNUX L W. PBRRIS.

DRBDGING AND CONVEYING A9PARATUS.

APPLIOTION FILED AULSL 1905.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

to a ecow or to any other suitable UNITED STATES rATENT orrioir.

FERRIS, OF SOUTH MILWAUKEE,

Wil SCONSI N.

DREDGING AND coNveYiNe. APPARATUS.

Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Patented July 10, 1906.

Application led August 31, 1905. Serial No. Q''.

To @Uf when?, theory concern:

Beit known that we, SAMUEL LIPPINeoTT G RIswoLD KNOX, residing atMilwaukee, and WALTER Feuers, residing at South Milwaukee, county ofMilwaukee, State of Wisconf sin, citizens of the United States, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Dredginv and We doherethy declare the followin to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof t e invenf tion, such as will enable others skilled in the art towhich it the saine. Y

The invention relates to apparatus for excavating or dredging materie!from riverbeds, &o., and delivering the spoil ashore or dump which maybe selected by means of a series of conveyer-scows so connected with thedredge as to swing freely under the influence oi' wind and tide and yetalways maintain the proper relation With each other and with the dredgeand terminal or deli very Scow to receive and transmit the spoiluninterruptedly :from the piace of excavation to the final dump,

To this end the apparatus comprises en excavating-dredge, adeiivery-scow having a conveyer thereon that is adapted to deposit thespoil at the desired place, and an intermediate Scow or scows eachprovided With'a conveyer which receives the excavated mate rial from theapparatus next preceding it and delivers it to the conveyer of thesucceeding scow, the various hulls being pivotallylconnected by means ofdetachable and interchangeable couplings, scows may be connected to thedredge or toV A any other scow to constitute a flexibie chain,

of which the dredge forms one end and the deiivery-scovv the other end.When the materiel is te be transported a relatively great distance,intermediate scows of the desired number are connected in series betweenthe dredge and the deliver vscovv; but where the distance between theredge and the shore is not reat the delivery-scour may be connecteddirectly with the dredge from which it rre-,QL ceives the spoil andthence deliver the'seinefl,

Y, Y Y whic In order to insure proper transfer of thel spoil from oneconveyor to the next in reguV Y to the dump.

lar succession, special nprovision ls madefor maintaining the deliveryrend of eachV conveyer Yin'cornnrunncation with the receiving ConveyingApparatus; and Y appertains to make. and use' eo that any one of theYend of the next in the series, so that as the scows or hulls upon whichthe conveyors are mounted swing in the tidewey or under the Yinfluenceof the wind the several conveyers xviii precticailv operate es a sin ieconveyer between the dredge and the de ivery-scow. To accomplish thispurpose, the deiivery end of each conveyer is located in substantialvertical aiinement with the pivotal connection between the huii uponwhich Vsaid conveyer is Vrnrninted and the hull next succeedin so that.whatever the angular position o? the eennected hulls may be the spoilwill be deiivered from one conveyer to the next without interruptionthroughout the'series'.

These and other features of the invention will appear more particularlyhereinafter. In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is' a' plan view ofa dredge or excavator, a delivery-scow, and two intermediateconveyerecows arranged in accordance with our invention, the operatingmechanism en the vaf rions Y nils being omitted for the sake ofclearnese. Fie. 2 is e. eide eevation of the apparatus. Fig. 3 is enenlarged side elevation of a dredge of the eievator type which ispaxticularlr weli adapted to our invention. Fig. 4 is a planrvieiv ofthe dredge, showing in diagram the disposition of the operatinglmechanism thereon, the excavating apparatus and the conveyer beingomitted for the sake of clearness. Fig. 5 is a eide elevation of acomplete intermediate conveyor-snow, iiiustrating the mode of connectingthe same with the dredge and with the next succeeding scow, the pivotalcouplings between the hulls being shown partly in section. Fig. 6 is aVplan view of the yoke member of the pivotal coupling'between the huils.Fig. 7 ie a pian view of delivery-scow with its operatiu Virhechenisniexclusive of the elevator, Whic emitted to avoid confusion. Y Y eReferring to the drawings, A indicates the dredgecr excavator whichserves to dig the materiai from the river-bed or like location Yanddeiver the same to the ret of Ya series of Yintermediate scows B, thelast o'vvhich diees the spoil to the delivery-scanf C, from it isdeposited upon the dump, in haul 4in -scows, or et any other desiredplace. a n thepreferred form of the apparatus the eher 'having the usuelbucket-chain a, .which y Vthe material from the river-bed andldeliversdredgeor'excavator'is ef the elevator te, i g3.

IDO

it to a coiiveyer d, mounted upon the dredgehull, said conveyorpreferably running longitudinally oi'` the hnll and having its dischargeend located at a point just above the digging-sl'iud (j, about which thedredge swings in its digging operation. This digging-smid is ol theusual type and is preferably located at the center line of the dredgenear the stern. 'lhis location of the discharge end oll the conveyorabove the digging-spurl is essential in the ease ol: an elevator-dredge,which, as will be understood, operates by revolving or swinging aboutits digging-spurl in order that the dredge may be tree to move to andr'ro and deliver the material continuously to the attachedcoiiveyer-scow. The buckets of the excavator-chain discharge the spoildirectly into the usual hopper b, from which it is delivered upon theupper reach of the, endless conveyor d, which is mounted upon anupwardly-inclined trestle or framework on the dredge7 as clearlyillustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. The delivery end ot the conveyer ddischarges into the upper end o'llv an inclined chute or hopperf,mounted upon the iirst intermediate scow and discharging upon theconveyer of that scow. The upper end ofeach conveyor isprovidcd withasplashguard c concentric with the pivot connections between hulls,which insures proper dclivery of' all material into the upper end ofchute l'n a system wherein. an elevatordredge is employed it isnecessary that the digging-spurl g be substantially in verticalalinement with the upper or receiving end ot the chute f for reasonshereinbefore referred to 3 but in the case of a dipper-dredge, which maybe employed under certain conditions and which does not revolve about aspud while digging, the chain of intermediate scows may be attached tothe dredge at any convenient point by a suitable pivotal cou ling, andthe material may be discharged r irectly from the dredge upon theconveyor oI the rst intermediate scow, as will be understood.

Each intermediate conveyer-scow comprises a hull having thereon aninclined framework or trestle which supports an endless conveyer d ofany preferred type, the lower end of which is adapted to receive thespoil from the inclined chute f, mounted upon its own hull, and theupper end of which conveyer discharges into a downwardly-inclined chutef, mounted upon the next succeeding conveyer-hull, to deliver the spoilto the next succeeding convever. Projecting from the respective ends oi"the hull of each intermediate scoW are horizontal frameworks lo', eachof which forms one member of apivotal coupling by means of which thescoW is flexibly connected to the adjacent members of the system. Theframework l has on its under side, near the end thereof, a circular drumh, and the framework o carries at its end a sessie yoke-like device o,which surrounds the drum l and is held in yielding contact with theperiphery thereof by means oli a springbolt 0"', which holds theremovable block of the yoke o in position, so that the hulls connectedby the coupling may assume any angular position with respect to eachother and the chain of connected hulls may move laterally withinrelatively wide limits between the end members of the system,

rllu` delivery-scow (l is provided with aconveyer i, preferably of theboom type, adapted to be raised and lowered, and the hull ol' this scowis provided with additional flota- `tion on the shore or dump side tosupport a very long overhangr of the conveyor7 as when the system isemployed to deliver the spoil on shore a prime object is to dischargethe material as far insln'ire possible and at any desired distance fromthe dredge. The delivery-scow is also provided with a spud s, by whichit is moored, and winch machinery (designated generally by letters q andq in Fig. 7) to operate two shore-lines, which enables the operator toswing the conveyor to and fro laterally and to raise and lower theeonveyer to vary the 'points of delivery ofthe spoil.

In the particular form of the invention illustrated in the drawings thepower plant for operating the entire series of conveyers is installedupon the dredge and includes an electric generator w, an electric motorz on the dredge for operating the conveyerd thereon, separate electricmotors 2 on each of the intermediate scows B for operating therespective conveyers d', and an electric motor 2 on the delivery-sonar,which drives the endless conveyer p and also furnishes the motive powerfor raising and lowering the conveyer-boom and operating the shore-linesto swing the boom from side to side. Each of the motors is appropriatelyconnected to the generator on the dredge by means of suitable leadsconnected by flexible cou lings from scow to scow,which permit t 1eswinging of the individual scows 'without injury to the electricalleads.

The intermediate scows are preferably provided with light spuds, bymeans of which the said scows may be moored separately when not in use,and these spuds, together with the digging-Spud g and walking-Spud i onthe dredge and also the mooring-Spud s on the delivery-scow, may beoperated by any appropriate mechanism.

The apparatus as above described is adapted to be used in dredging orexcavating material from the bottom of a Waterway and delivering thesame at any desired pointsuch, for example, as the bank of the Waterwayor into suitable hauling-scoWs-and it is to be particularly noted thatwhen a number of intermediate conveyer-scows are employed ahighly-exible chain is produced, whereby nect the same with other hulls,and a traveling convejver on said hull having its respective endssubstantiallv in alinement with the corresponding pivotal connections.

13. A delivery-scow, com )rising a hull, a pivotal coupling at one enthereof, and a conveyer adapted to receive s oil or other material at apoint substantial y above said couplin and deliver the material over theside of t e hull into a scow or upon the dumping-ground.

14. The combination of a dredge, a series of scows pivotalljv connectedin series with the dredge, a convever upon each scow, a source of poweron the dred e, and a motor on each scow connected Wit the source ofpower to drive the several conveyers.

15. The combination of a dredge, a series of conveyer-scows pivotallyconnected in series with the dredge7 a conveyer upon each scow, anelectric generator on the dredge, an electric motor on each scow todrive the several conve fers, and conductors from the generator to teseveral motors.

16, The combination of an elevatordred e, an inclined conveyer thereonreceivingi t 1e spoil from the excavating apparatus, a elivery-scowmoored at the place of deliv ery, a traveling conveyer thereon, one ormore intermediate travelin conveyer-scows between the dred e and deivery-scows, and pivotal couplings etween each hull and the nextsucceeding hull substantially in alinement with the deliver@T andreceiving ends of the respective conveyers whereby spoil will becarried'rom the dredge to the dump irrespective of the relativepositions of the several hulls.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presenee of twowitnesses.

SAMUEL LIlPlNCOTT GRlSWOhl) KNOX. WALTER FERRIS.

Witnesses z RIDGELY FLETCHER, HARRY B. HAYDEN.

